Saturday, June 13, 2015

Many of you know that I highly recommend GPAnalysis (GPA) to serious variant collectors. GPA keeps track of almost all publicly traded sales of certified comic books. If you buy or sell certified comic books you owe it to yourself to get a subscription. The subscription is reasonably priced.

One of the things I like best about GPA is that it has several Market Reports. The GPA-Price Variant Report is one of these reports. Below is a copy of the May edition. GPA is reporting that a 9.8 copy of a Thor 260 35 cent price variant sold for $3000. This is a new record for Thor Price variant and is also indicative of the current market for single-highest graded 35 cent price variants. There are only 13 certified copies of this issue in any grade. The condition census is one 9.8, one 9.4 and three 9.2s.

Important variant sales last month also include near record sales of Star Wars 1, X-Men 99, and a $250 sales of a mid-grade Logan's Run 6 (a very cool book).

One of the two highest graded copies of the 35 cent price variant issue of Star Wars 1 shattered the previous record sale of a price variant by more than $10,000. The June ComicLink auction of the CGC 9.6 Star Wars 1 price variant closed at $36,500. This sale is over 60 times higher than the current price of a regular issue certified 9.6. Interest in the classic bronze age Star Wars books has been stoked because of the upcoming launch of new Star Wars films starting in December 2015. You can search this blog for the previous two record sales of 9.6 Star Wars 1 price variants back in 2010 and 2011.

The regular edition Star Wars 1 has risen in price in the last year from the $600 dollar level to around $2500. It is not surprising that interest in the much, much, much rarer Star Wars 1 price variant is at an all-time high. This is the only mainstream Star Wars collectible to be released before the release of the first Star Wars movie. The CGC census of Star Wars 1 price variants currently has two 9.6 copies certified and lists eleven 9.4 copies. The number of 9.4s is probably inflated a bit because both 9.6 copies were a result of resubmits to CGC.

These numbers will give you an idea of the rarity (and the justification for the high prices) of Near Mint or higher price variant issues versus the regular issues of Star Wars 1.

There are 339 copies of Star Wars 1 that have been graded 9.8, 921 copies that have graded 9.6, and 861 that have graded 9.4. This is a total of 2121 books graded 9.4 or higher.

There are two copies of the 35 price variant in 9.6 and somewhere between seven to eleven copies in 9.4. In other words, there is about one NM or better 35 cent price variant of Star Wars 1 for every 200 NM or better regular editions.

Here is the information on the ComicLink auction. ComicLink does not report sales to GPA, but this blog keeps track of the important ComicLink variant sales.

Also featured in the ComicLink auction was a very nice CGC 9.0 Star Wars 1 price variant with Off-White to White pages. I think that this is the first time that two high grade copies of this book have been auctioned in the same event. This auction closed at $5764.

These two sales imply current prices of $18,000 to $20,000 for 9.4 certified Star Wars 1 price variants and $9000 to $11,000 for 9.2 copies.

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Star Wars 35 cent price variants are quickly rising to new price levels along with the rest of the original series as interest in the books has intensified with the announcement of the new movies that will extend the ever-popular franchise. Copies of the first issue, both regular and price variant, are leading the charge.

Two 9.4 copies have sold recently, both topping $13,000 (more information coming on those two sales). One sold in December of 2014 and one in February of this year.

A buyer just paid $6250 for this very sharp copy of the first issue 35 cent price variant. The CGC census now has 148 certified copies of the price variant first issue in all grades versus 3439 of the regular edition first issue or about 4%. The CGC census currently reports that there are two 9.6s, eleven 9.4s, seven 9.2s, and eleven 9.0s. It should be recognized that the census is overstated by several books in the 9.0 to 9.4 level because they have been cracked out of the original case and resubmitted to try and achieve a higher grade. Competitive grade sets and several thousand dollars difference between each grade point will continue to drive this activity.

By the way, readers have asked me how I know that this book sold for $6250, when all you can find from the ebay search is that the seller listed the book for $8000 (which is scratched through) and then accepted a best offer. Why ebay is making this information difficult to find is puzzling to me, but I know of two ways to find this important information.

The first way is the easiest and simply requires a subscription to gpanalysis.com. You simply look up the book in their database and voila you have it.

The second way is more complicated but free so I will walk you through it. Once you look up the listing on ebay, copy the address of the book. Then you go to http://www.watchcount.com/ and paste the address that you copied.

Hit the "Show Me What's Most Popular" button and you get the information that you are looking for. Pretty spiffy tool, actually.

GPA doesn't list it because ComicLink is one of the few sites that does not report sales to GPA, but the only 9.2 to sell in the last couple of years is this book, which sold in mid 2014. The seller probably sold a few months to soon as the price would be a few thousand higher today.

A true highlight of any Marvel 30 cent price variant collection would be a MINT 9.8 example of a Spider-Man price variant. There are five Amazing Spider-Man 30 cent price variant issues. There are two certified 9.8s the variant issue of 155 (32 regular issue 9.8s). No certified 9.8s of the variant issue of 156 (only 9 regular issue 9.8s, key issue right here). Two certified 9.8s of the variant issue of 157 (107 regular issue 9.8s). One certified 9.8 of the variant issue of 158 (32 regular issue 9.8s). There is one single-highest graded 9.8 of issue 159 (53 regular issue 9.8s).

Two 155s, no 156s, two 157s, one 158, and one 159. Six total. That is not very many for the legion of Spider-Man collectors out there.

The Daredevil 132 Marvel 30 Cent Price Variant has always been a tough, sought-after book for several reasons. First, this has always been one of the toughest super-hero 30 cent price variants, particularly in high grade.

Second, Daredevil has remained popular and the story arc that started in the previous book #131 where creator Marv Wolfman introduced Bullseye is one of the best of the Bronze Age of comics. The book was inked by Klaus Janson who would late team up with Frank Miller to do the phenomenal Daredevil-Kingpin-Punisher-Bullseye-Elektra story that kept readers thirsting for the next issue to hit the newsstands. I still can't believe that the movie stunk as a bad as it did. Issue 132 is the second appearance of Bullseye.

Third, the book is crazy tough in high grade. The black areas and contrasting yellow areas of the cover show defects like crazy. The book also contains a Series "B" Marvel Value Stamp #63: Stan Lee. Many otherwise nice books were cut up for that Stan Lee value stamp.

The condition census for the book is a single highest 9.8 followed by two 9.6s and five 9.4s. A total of 22 books have been graded. The only other time that a CGC certified 9.6 came up for sale was exactly ten years before the sale of this book, back in 2004, where it fetched $500. A high-grade 9.4 sold in 2012 for $508.

When Filter81 listed this book, I was very excited to see what kind of interest the auction would generate. The answer was a lot. $2259. That is a new record and a new entrant into the four figure club.

Here is a nice bonus for the post, a scan of the single highest graded 9.8.

Every once in a while a truly incredible run of books comes up for sales. In the next few posts I will highlight some of the individual gems, but this past summer ebay seller Filter 81 put up a truly remarkable run of price variants on ebay. The interest in Filter81s books became infectious and chased out some other high grade books from other sellers. Here is the GPA price variant report for the time period that covered those sales, you will probably never see another with the sheer number and quality of these Marvel price variants.

For perspective, I can usually easily capture the GPA Price-Variant report in one screenshot. This month, it took three. Eleven different 30 cent price variants joined the four figure club (over $1000 selling price, for those new to the blog).

As I have written before, I highly recommend Gpanalysis.com to any serious certified comic collectors. I find it indispensable.

One of the two CGC 9.4 certified copies of Amazing Adventures #36 sold at auction for $250. This is a new record for the book. There are sixteen total certified copies and the condition census is two 9.6s and four 9.4s.

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There were several recent sales of the other Amazing Adventures 30 cent price variant. This copy was from the simply incredible Filter81 sale. $113.50 for a very sharp 9.2.

To give you an idea of the money that the seller (previous blog post) of the WWT 15 left on the table, compare this listing. All of the Weird Wonder Tales books are pretty tough, but correctly listing the book and not relying on the Overstreet price Guide brought this seller $178.50 at auction for this WWT 17. The previous seller sold the three WWT books (15, 16, and 17) for $50. I am guessing the seller left at least $500 on the table, probably more. That is a lot of "meat on the bone."

I am returning from a length sabbatical from blogging about Marvel Price Variants. While I was gone, there were some exciting things that happened. I will try and catch up over the next few weeks.

Someone got a crazy-good deal on this lot, and the seller offered volume pricing and shipping for the whole Weird Wonder Tales lot. Weird Wonder Tales 15 is still one of the keys to the 30 cent price variant series. Kid Colt 208 and a couple of the other westerns might be just a smidge tougher but this was one of the last two books I needed to complete the series.

There are still only nine copies of this issue certified by CGC, with the condition census grades being 9.2, 9.0, 7.5, 7.0, and 6.5. There is some writing on the cover of this book, but from just looking at the picture, this copy might be close to condition census.

There is nothing quite as exciting for a variant collector than finding the needle in the haystack. In this case, the "needle" is the hidden western 30 cent price variant lurking in an ebay auction but not described as such in either the title or the description. Every once in awhile, several variant hunters find the same needle and that is where the fun begins. I suspect that seller porkyscomics was surprised when his listing for 45 well read bronze age westerns fetched $178.49 at a recent auction. Or maybe he was just cagey because the one extremely rare Two-Gun Kid 131 30 cent western variant is inserted right in the middle of the picture. Yes, the tell-tale starburst is almost in the middle of the picture. Anyway, if the buyer is a collector of 30 cent price variants, he got a good deal on this one. If the buyer is a speculator, he may have paid a bit more than he thought he was going to have to pay.

for finding rare raw western hidden variants. Here is proof. An ebay seller recently posted a "beater" lot of eleven western bronze age books with an auction start of $23.95. Ebay is filled with lots like this of beat-up bronze-age books that sit forever because they are overpriced. No one is going to pay $2 bucks a book for dreckage like this except there is that Rawhide Kid 134 30 cent western variant sitting in the bottom right of the picture. You would think that a seller going with the handle "sherlockseller" might have checked a little more closely, but the fact that the Rawhide Kid is a western price variant is not noted in the title or in the description. Hidden lots like this get a variant collectors crazy excited when they see one. They get even more excited when the hammer hits for the minimum bid which means that none of the other variant collectors out there found the listing. They get even more excited when the book actually arrives in the mail.

If you don't currently have the budget to collect 30 cent variants, start looking for the needles in the hay stack and you just might find them cheap. Warning! It may take a long time.

The May 2014 features some strong variant sales. There were three solid sales of Star Wars 1 books. An 8.5 sold for $3100. A 8.0 sold for $2500. A 6.5 sold for $1850. The 6.5 sale was a record price for the grade and the prices give a pretty good idea of the range of prices for the most expensive bronze-age book in comics.

I want to highlight two record breaking sales of two sensational 35 cent variants. The first book is a simply unimprovable Fantastic Four 184 in 9.8. 35 cent price variants which have been certified at 9.8 are the rarest of the rare bronze-age books. This book is the highest graded by two grades over three 9.4s. This book was snapped up almost instantly when ebay seller Zillaf4 listed it for $2000. To repeat myself, again, and again. These never come up for sale. The only other recorded sale in GPA of this issue was a 7.0 which sold nine years ago for $53. 2005 prices for 35 cent variants are long gone.

The other highlight was one of the three highest graded Iron Man 100 35 cent variants in 9.2. Like the Fantastic Four, this book was sold as a Buy-It-Now for $1100. Iron Man was a second-tier title back in 1977, but Robert Downey has helped make it a first-tier title now and the 100th issue is a great book. This is the highest graded of 17 currently certified.

Every so often I post the GPA variant report that is produced by GPA every month. As I have written before, I highly recommend GPA to high-quality comic collectors, especially high-quality variant collectors. Overstreet does not come close to a correct value for these books - GPA is the only useful guide and as you will see in upcoming posts - GPA is only a guide, each sale can bring a new high.

As you can see from the report, there were a couple of highlights for the month. Here is the sale of the Jungle Action 21, one of the toughest 30 centers particularly in high grade. The black cover and low distribution of this book add to the difficulty. $565 is a record price for this issue which isn't surprising because it is the single highest graded of only six specimens. This book also doesn't come up for sale very often. The only comparably graded book sold for $82 back in 2005. Pretty solid appreciation for a hard-to-find 30 cent variant. One 9.2 on the census and only one 9.0 on the census.

Another record sale propelled Iron Fist 13 into the rapidly growing Four-Figure club. This book was purchased as a Buy-It-Now Best Offer for $1700. This 9.4 is one of two highest graded books of this ever-popular Iron Fist issue. How often does this book come up for sale in high grade? The previous high sale was a 9.0 for $282 back in 2004. Yes, 10 years ago. There are still only 10 of this issue that have been certified.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Dallas comic dealer mycomicshop sold a solid mid-grade Amazing Spider-Man 173 35 cent price variant on ebay for $374. mycomicshop is generally regarded as decent (if not conservative) grade and they had the book pegged as a 6.5. The only recorded sale of certified book in the last nine years was an 8.5 which sold for $612 in 2010. There are still just eight of this price variant issue certified in ANY grade so I think this might have been a bargain.

It has been awhile, but a nice trio of Rawhide Kid 30 cent price variants were auctioned off on ebay. The first was a nice Rawhide Kid 133 from ebay seller msjackhammer which brought $350 in the auction. There are only eight Rawhide Kid 133s which have been certified.

The same seller auctioned a second 133 (which I thought was nicer than the first) and it brought $202 at auction.

The seller had both variants as msjackhammer auctioned off a VG Rawhide Kid 134 which brought a hammer price of $522.

It seems like it has been forever, but it has only been five years since the last Kid Colt 208 price variant came up for sale on ebay. As part of a group of very hard-to-find 30 cent price variants that ebay seller msjackhammer listed on ebay, the Kid Colt 208 was bound to catch the attention of price variant collectors everywhere. The book is a very solid mid-grade. I think that the bottom right corner creasing will keep the book in the 7 range, but it would be very attractive for the grade. The auction brought $1628 for the book. The highest graded 208 resides in a CGC 9.2 holder with another in a CGC 9.0 holder. There are currently only five copies in any grade on the CGC census.

Here is a picture of the CGC 9.2 copy of the book.

Interestingly, at the same time, another copy of Kid Colt 208 was being auctioned on ebay. This Kid Colt was in what variant collector's call a "hidden" auction. A "hidden" auction is one where the seller lists the issue, but doesn't know and doesn't note anywhere in the listing that the book is a price variant. Ebay seller, ethrift_superstore, must have been shocked when their listing for two Kid Colt Marvel Comics fetched $250 in an auction. Hopefully, they are not going to go out and buy a bunch of similarly beaten up bronze age comics or they will take a bath on them. However that pretty white 30 cent starburst makes all the difference in this case. If they had correctly listed the book as a marvel price variant, I think that would have made several hundred dollars more. Interest in this book is that high. It is usually the last book needed to complete the 30 cent marvel price variant set.

Ebay seller Topnotchcomics auctioned off a couple of nice certified Amazing Adventures 37 price variants on ebay. On December 1, he sold this spectacular CGC 9.6 copy of the issue. It brought $218. It is one of three highest graded 9.6s on the census. Perfectly centered, full star burst, and white pages... they don't come nicer than this one.

Later in December, he sold this very nice CGC 9.4 graded copy of the same issue with almost the same results - $200. Fittingly so, since from the pictures, it is hard to tell a difference between the two books.

I have always felt that Weird Wonder Tales 15 along with Kid Colt 208 (and the rest of the Marvel Westerns) is the key to completing the 30 cent price variant set. This is one reason why a this book in what would graciously be called a Fair to Good grade brings $255 in the auction. If a collector needs the book to finish the series, it wouldn't matter if the book came off the bottom of the bird cage.

A very nice (F/VFish?) copy of Tomb of Darkness 20 brought $437 in an ebay auction. Noted ebay seller and Marvel price variant hunter/collector Flyingdonut sold the book.

There are no recorded sales of a CGC certified copy of this issue so the value of these books is anyone's guess. Everyone knows that the price variant horror titles are very tough.

I always felt that issue 21 was tougher than issue 20, but that may be just personal experience. They are both tough books since there were not a lot of people collecting reprint horror titles back in the 70's. The single highest graded 21 which is graded in 9.6 sold in 2012 for $750.

The three Warlock 30 cent price variants are some of the rarer price variants. Two very nice price copies of Warlock 13 have sold in the past couple of months. The first is this single highest-graded CGC 9.8 blazer which brought $795 as a Buy It Now on ebay. It is one of only two 9.8s on the census.

A 9.6 of the same issue sold for $200. There are eight 9.6s on the census. You will note that this is an October sale and the above 9.8 is a December sale. These are definately two different books, not the same book just resubmitted to CGC.

One of the six highest graded Warlocks of Issue 12 was also sold on ebay for $200. 9.6 is the highest grade for this issue. There are no 9.8s.

Ebay seller Filter81 sold one of the highest graded X-Men 100 30 cent price variant books for $1850 on ebay as a Buy It Now item. Since 9.4 copies of this book regularly sell for more than $1000, this was just confirmation that if you want a high grade X-Men registry set, the six issues will cost you what a decent car would cost.

Another nice X-Men 100, this one in CGC 9.0 sold for $394 in December.

So just exactly how much would the highest graded X-Men set cost nowadays if you could acquire all the books at once. Yes, I know that this impossible, but let's examine the hypothetical just for fun.

The three 30 cent issues are 98, 99, and 100.

There are three copies of issue 98 graded in CGC 9.6. The last of which sold in 2012 for $2225.

There are only four copies of issue 99 graded in CGC 9.4, which is the highest grade for this issue. There are no recorded sales of a 9.4. The last recorded sale of a 9.2 of this issue is back in 2009 and was for $975. I suspect that it would take at least $2000 to snag one of the four 9.4s in today's market.

As seen above, $1850 is a realistic price for a 100 in 9.6. I suspect that if the seller had auctioned the book instead of listing as a BIN, the price would have been higher. The last private sale of that book was for $3000 so who knows?

The three 35 cent issues are 105, 106 and 107.

The last recorded sale of a 105 was an 8.5 which sold in 2010 for $799. What would one of the four highest graded 9.4s sell for today? My guess would be at $2500 to $4000.

The last recorded sale of a 106 was a 9.2 that sold for $1000 in 2011. There is a single 9.6 on the census and it is the highest graded by two grades over the three 9.2s on the census!!! I would guess that this book would easily bring $5000.

The last recorded sale of a high grade 107 was a 9.2 that sold back in 2005, yes nine years ago. That sale brought $910. There is just one 9.4 and one 9.2 on the census. I think the 9.4 would easily bring $4000 to $5000 in auction.

Totaling the damage on the six books makes me think that it would take $17,500 to $21,000 to get all six of the top graded books on the census. I don't think it will ever happen, but it would be fun to see the fireworks if it ever did.

Coming on the heels of the spectacular Marvel Feature 4 in CGC 9.8 that sold for $1850, this extraordinary Red Sonja Marvel Feature 5 in CGC 9.6 sold for $500. This is a record price for the book

This is one of just three copies that have been graded in 9.6 (one is a signature series book!!!) which is the highest grade for the book.

There are only the two 30 cent price variants (issue 4 and 5) for this ever-popular, but short-lived (7 issues) series. Of course Red Sonja went on to her own title and remains one of the most popular Marvel characters of all time. Bikini armor is really all that needs to be said.

I haven't posted in awhile, but there have been some very nice top census books sold lately so it is time to catch you up with the recent significant book sales. We can start with one of the best resources, GPA's price variant sales report. As always, if you don't have a subscription, I highly recommend the service if you buy or sell high-grade comic books. The service is invaluable and one of the bonuses is the GPA price variant report. The report for December 2013 is below.

The highlight of course is the Star Wars 1 in CGC 9.2 that sold for $6550. This is a new high for the grade and points to the fact that the Star Wars 1 35 cent price variant is still the most desired bronze age book.

The other highlight is the exceptional Marvel Feature 4 in CGC 9.8 which sold for $1850. This is also a new record for the book and the 9.8 that sold is one of only two 9.8s on the census (the other is a Signature Series book!!!) followed by two 9.6s. Vintage Red Sonja books are always in demand and this book, with its spectacular cover is no exception.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

If you don't mind looking tediously through thousands of listings, you can have a lot of fun when you find the proverbial "needle in the hay stack". Take this variant hunter and this ebay transaction for instance.

So what did this ebay buyer get for his $6 plus shipping? Yes, a nice little low-grade Star Wars 4 35 cent price variant. Plus a couple of other books for fun reading or to give away to the kids on Halloween instead of candy.

If you find a sweet hidden copy sometime, shoot me a note and let me know. I heard a story from a source who normally knows what he is talking about that back in the day, an ebay buyer won a lot for a high grade CGC certified Iron Fist 14 price variant which was incorrectly graded and labeled by CGC as a regular edition. That may be the all-time story. Can you top it?

Sunday, July 7, 2013

There is a tremendous amount of collector interest in the Marvel Price Variant issues. Collectors looking to complete specific titles and collectors trying to complete the entire series create a healthy competition for any fresh material that hits the market. In addition to the Rawhide Kid 141 in CGC 4.5 that I mentioned in an earlier post, there were two other sales of nice CGC certified 4.5 books that illustrate the true rarity of these books and offer a perspective on the pricing for the books.

On ComicLink, a CGC 4.5 copy of Amazing Spider-Man 173 sold for $205. This is the seventh highest graded copy out of eight graded copies. The key term is that there are only eight graded copies and there are certainly more than eight Spider-Man collectors looking for these books. Comparisons to sales of the regular issue are really difficult, because with 17 copies graded in 9.8, there just aren't that many collectors looking for a CGC 4.5 regular edition. Honestly, a 4.5 copy of the regular edition is not worth slabbing. The closest comparison I could find is a CGC 8.0 regular edition that sold in December 2012 for $10 (or 1/2 of the CGC encapsulation fees). A CGC 4.5 Spider-Man price variant is worth twenty times a CGC 8.0 of the regular issue.

GPA reports the sale in May of 2013 of an Iron Fist 15 graded in CGC 4.5 for $180. The statistics are similar to the Spidey 173. There are 21 total books graded of the price variant issue while there are 21 9.8s graded of the regular issue. The closest comparison is again a CGC 8.0 regular edition that sold for $19 in September of 2012. A CGC 4.5 Iron Fist price variant is worth ten times a CGC 8.0 of the regular issue.

It bears repeating. 35 Cent Price Variants regularly trade at ten to twenty times the price of the regular issues. For the rarest of the rare books like the HB's, horror, war and western price variants the multiple is 100 times, i.e. Scooby Doo 1 in CGC 8.5 at $3500 versus $35 for the regular issue. Or try Star Wars 1 in CGC 9.6 for $26,000 versus $190 for the regular issue.

About Me

I grew up an avid comic book reader and collector while I was in school in the 70s and early 80s. After graduating from college, getting married and having kids, I stopped buying comic books because of the demands of my new responsibilities and home budget constraints. Fast forward to a couple of years ago with my own kids in high school, some spare time, and settled in a bigger house with some extra storage space, I started working to complete some of the comic runs that I never finished as a kid. Searching for these books led me to the CGC website where I discovered a thread on Marvel price variants of the same books that I collected as a kid. That thread led me to the STL comics site where I met up with the Variant Mafia. You can't complete a set of marvel price variants without help from the mafia. Anyway, I became hooked on the price variants. Hard.
As of 2010, I have completed the 30 cent set. I am actively working on completing the 35 cent but so are several others and the competition for the last twenty books that I need for the set is pretty fierce.